


Once a King

by NBvagabond



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Narnia is Good, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Transphobia, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, for England
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 11:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11966448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NBvagabond/pseuds/NBvagabond
Summary: "Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia."But it was hard to remember being a King when all you are ever called is a girl.Edmund tries to deal with it, but when Caspian and the Dawn Treader call to him, Edmund has a choice.





	Once a King

God, Edmund hated England. Well, England itself wasn't so terrible. The weather was better than eternal winter, at least, and the war was over now. What he really hated was himself, in England. In Narnia, he had been King Edmund, the Just. In England he wasn't even Edmund - he was a girl. He hated the feminine school uniforms, the girls name he was always called, and the constant parade of ‘she’, ‘she’, ‘she’.

It wasn't so bad at home, Lucy and the others always called him Edmund when they were alone, which helped, and he’d managed to convince everyone to call him ‘Ed’ as a nickname. But there was still the constant ache of longing for Narnia, for ‘Edmund’, _King_ Edmund.

And then, all of a sudden, Peter and Susan were in America, and Ed and Lucy were forced to share a house with Eustace Clarence Scrubb, quite possibly the worst boy in England. Lucy and Ed shared a room in the attic, cramped and cold. The only good thing was the undershirt and shorts he had managed to steal from Eustace, and wore under his clothes.

 

“I have a mind to tell your father you stole Aunt Alberta's sweets,” Edmund rounded on Eustace, balling his fists. He was the same height as his younger cousin, but he had the presence of a king, making Eustace take half a step back.  
“Liar!”  
“Oh really? I found them under your bed, and I licked every one.”  
“Ed, the painting!” Lucy called behind him. Eustace looked disgusted, and opened his mouth to respond when they both felt something cold and wet hit their feet. Turning, they saw water, spilling out from the rim of the painting on the wall. _Magic_.  
“Lucy, do you think…?” Edmund rushed over to the painting, ignoring Eustace’s cry of confusion. The ship was definitely moving now, bobbing up and down as water rushed into the room.  
“This is some kind of trick!” Eustace yelled, splashing up to them. “Stop it, or I’ll smash the rotten thing.” He reached up to grab the painting off it’s hook, and both Lucy and Edmund moved to stop him. As soon as he tilted it, the water began to rush out, the force pushing all of them onto the quickly flooding floor.  
“Eustace!” Lucy yelled, trying to pull herself up, but the force of the water kept tripping her up.  
“What are you doing? What’s happening?” Eustace was shrieking, splashing about desperately.  
Edmund tried to respond, but salty water filled his mouth. He spat it out, taking a quick breath before the water swallowed them all.

The water was dark, and cold, and everything was confusing. At first, Edmund couldn’t tell which way was up or down, where his sister and cousin had gone, anything. Just as his lungs felt like bursting and he couldn’t take it anymore, Edmund saw light above him, and a pair of strong arms grabbing his. He finally breached the surface, gasping for air, and looked around, squinting in the bright sunlight.  
“Edmund!” a familiar voice came from behind him, and Edmund twisted in the water to see Caspian’s beaming face.  
“Caspian!” Ed gripped onto Caspian’s arm, grinning back at him. “Lucy, it’s Caspian!”

 

Edmund shivered as he was lifted onto the ship’s deck, grinning all the while. He was back in Narnia, with the sun shining on his face, Caspian’s comforting hand on his back, and the title of King ringing in his ears again.  
The ship looked just like it did in the painting, only so much more majestic. A rich red and gold sail flapped gently in the breeze, and Edmund caught sight of a terrific dragon figurehead, roaring over the sea.

When the two men were on the solid wood of the ship, they quickly embraced.  
“It’s so great to see you,” They said at almost the same time, laughing.  
Lucy stepped over to them, wrapping a towel around her shoulders and handing one to Edmund.  
“How in the world did you end up here?” Caspian looked between the two of them, smiling.  
“You mean you didn’t call us?” Lucy frowned.  
Caspian shook his head. “No, not this time.” He looked between the siblings, confusion on all three of their faces.  
“Well, whatever the case,” Edmund grinned, “I’m glad to be here.”  
The happy reunion was interrupted by shouting from behind them, and they turned to see Eustace on the ground, flailing his arms helplessly.  
“Get off me! Get that thing off me!” Eustace was shrieking, trying to push off a very familiar little shape.  
“Reepicheep!” Lucy called, stepping forward as Reepicheep pulled himself off Eustace’s chest.  
Reepicheep turned to see her, his tail pricking up when he recognised her. “Your Majesties!” He bowed, removing his hat.  
Edmund crouched down to shake his paw. “Hello again Reep. What a pleasure.”  
“The pleasure is all mine, sir. But first,” Reep looked back at Eustace, scrabbling on the ship’s deck, “what to do about this hysterical interloper?”  
“That giant rat thing,” Eustace pointed a shaking finger at Reep, “just tried to claw my face off! And it talked! Did you see it?”  
Edmund sighed. This could go on for a while. Eustace managed to pull himself up to stand, shakily, pointing at Edmund. “Edmée,” Edmund ground his teeth, “I demand to know just what you two have done to me, and where in the blazes I am!”  
Before Edmund or Lucy could say anything, one of the crew, a large minotaur with dark fur and intimidating horns, stepped forward.  
“His name is King Edmund. And you’re on the Dawn Treader… the finest ship in Narnia's navy.” he said with pride.  
Eustace stared at him for a brief moment, before his knees buckled and he fell to the floor in a faint.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always thought of Edmund as a trans boy, so I decided to finally bite the bullet and write fic for it


End file.
